Adjacent Words

Persuasion definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PERSUA'SION, n. s as z. [L. persuasio.]
1. The act of persuading; the act of influencing the mind by arguments or reasons offered, or by any thing that moves the mind or passions, or inclines the will to a determination.
For thou hast all the arts of fine persuasion.
2. The state of being persuaded or convinced; settled opinion or conviction proceeding from arguments and reasons offered by others, or suggested by one's own reflections.
When we have no other certainty of being in the right, but our own persuasion that we are so--
3. A creed or belief; or a sect or party adhering to a creed or system of opinions; as men of the same persuasion; all persuasions concur in the measure.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the act of persuading (or attempting to persuade); communication intended to induce belief or action [syn: persuasion, suasion] [ant: dissuasion]
2: a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty; "my opinion differs from yours"; "I am not of your persuasion"; "what are your thoughts on Haiti?" [syn: opinion, sentiment, persuasion, view, thought]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English persuasioun, from Middle French or Latin; Middle French persuasion, from Latin persuasion-, persuasio, from persuad?re Date: 14th century 1. a. the act or process or an instance of persuading b. a persuading argument c. the ability to persuade ; persuasiveness 2. the condition of being persuaded 3. a. an opinion held with complete assurance b. a system of religious beliefs; also a group adhering to a particular system of beliefs 4. kind, sort Synonyms: see opinion

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 persuading (yielded to persuasion). 2 persuasiveness (use all your persuasion). 3 a belief or conviction (my private persuasion). 4 a religious belief, or the group or sect holding it (of a different persuasion). 5 colloq. any group or party (the male persuasion). Etymology: ME f. L persuasio (as PERSUADE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Persuasion Per*sua"sion, n. [L. persuasio; Cf. F. persuasion.] 1. The act of persuading; the act of influencing the mind by arguments or reasons offered, or by anything that moves the mind or passions, or inclines the will to a determination. For thou hast all the arts of fine persuasion. --Otway. 2. The state of being persuaded or convinced; settled opinion or conviction, which has been induced. If the general persuasion of all men does so account it. --Hooker. My firm persuasion is, at least sometimes, That Heaven will weigh man's virtues and his crimes With nice attention. --Cowper. 3. A creed or belief; a sect or party adhering to a certain creed or system of opinions; as, of the same persuasion; all persuasions are agreed. Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. --Jefferson. 4. The power or quality of persuading; persuasiveness. Is 't possible that my deserts to you Can lack persuasion? --Shak. 5. That which persuades; a persuasive. [R.] Syn: See Conviction.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(persuasions) 1. Persuasion is the act of persuading someone to do something or to believe that something is true. She was using all her powers of persuasion to induce the Griffins to remain in Rollway. 2. If you are of a particular persuasion, you have a particular belief or set of beliefs. (FORMAL) It is a national movement and has within it people of all political persuasions... N-COUNT: usu with supp

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Influence, inducement, incitement, suasion, bringing over. 2. Conviction, belief, opinion. 3. Conviction, creed, belief, doctrine, tenet, dogma, way of thinking, system of opinions.

Moby Thesaurus

adherents, affiliation, allurement, ascendancy, authority, belief, bias, blandishment, blood, body, branch, brand, breed, cajolement, cajolery, cast, character, charisma, charm, church, clan, class, clout, coaxing, color, communion, community, confession, connection, conning, consequence, control, conversion, conviction, credit, creed, cult, denomination, description, designation, disciples, division, dominance, domination, effect, eminence, enchantment, engagement, enlistment, esteem, evangelization, exhortation, exhorting, eye, faction, faith, favor, feather, feeling, fellowship, fixed opinion, followers, force, form, genre, genus, good feeling, grain, group, hold, hortation, ilk, implicit belief, importance, incidental power, inducement, inducing, influence, influencing, influentiality, insinuation, ism, jawboning, kidney, kin, kind, label, leadership, leverage, line, lobbying, lot, magnetism, make, manner, mark, mastery, mature judgment, mind, mold, moment, nature, number, offshoot, opinion, order, organization, partiality, party, personality, persuading, phylum, potency, power, preaching, preachment, predilection, predominance, prejudice, preponderance, prepossession, pressure, prestige, proselytism, proselytization, purchase, race, reign, religion, religious order, repute, rule, sales talk, salesmanship, say, schism, school, school of thought, sect, sectarism, segment, selling, sentiment, settled judgment, shape, snow job, society, soft soap, solicitation, sort, species, stamp, staunch belief, steadfast faith, strain, stripe, style, suasion, subtle influence, suggestion, supremacy, sway, sweet talk, the like of, the likes of, tribe, type, unshaken confidence, upper hand, variety, version, view, weight, wheedling, whip hand, working on